Homeowners can create expensive look with low-end budgets

6:01 PM,
Sep. 6, 2013

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Story by Maria Sonnenberg
Photos by Dave Potter

Magicians - and interior decorators - know how easy it can be to fool the eye.

For magicians, creating an illusion is just an act. For interior decorators, the ability to use inexpensive products that mimic high-end results can make a remodeling budget very bearable. In some instances, these more modest choices can even prove to be more durable than their more expensive counterparts.

Dee Patnoe of design firm Dee Cor is used to working with $100,000-plus budgets with her clients, but when she tackled a makeover of her own rental property in a quiet subdivision in Palm Bay, she wanted to keep ...